


Festival of Lights

by DivineNoodles



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Contains an adorable rabbit wearing a yarmulke named Judah Macabunny, F/F, Hanukkah, Just Roll With It, Kissing, Tae is (secularly) Jewish now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28079928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineNoodles/pseuds/DivineNoodles
Summary: Tae celebrates Chanukah with Saaya for the first time.
Relationships: Hanazono Tae/Yamabuki Saaya
Comments: 20
Kudos: 47





	Festival of Lights

**Author's Note:**

> This fic came about because a friend and I once joked about Tae confusing rabbis and rabbits. And now I've made her Yiddish. I'm not sure how my brain works either.

A pure, snowy evening. Multicolored lights strewn about the city, weather cool enough that you could see your breath but not have it permeate your thick winter coat, and an air of festivity around every corner. Saaya’s walk to Tae’s house was filled with that kind of extravagant cheer, which made her feel a little festive but much more stressed out about all the holiday shopping she still had to do. Tonight wasn’t meant for that kind of hand-wringing, though. It was meant for celebration.

She knocked on Tae’s door, rubbing her hands to warm up. Moments later, her girlfriend opened the door with a smile. “Saaya! Happy Chanukah.”

“Happy Chanukah,” Saaya replied, despite having only learned about the holiday a week earlier. “May I come in?”

“Of course.” The two of them stepped inside to Tae’s dimly-lit living room. “I made us some latkes.”

“Some what?”

“Potato pancakes,” Tae clarified. “Maybe you should sell them at the bakery - they’re really good actually.”

Saaya was tickled by the idea. She’d have to consult her parents later. At the moment, she took her seat on the couch, letting herself sink into its cushy confines. “I was surprised last week when you told us you were Jewish.”

“Well, not really practicing,” Tae explained, sitting next to her. “My paternal grandmother was Yiddish - the granddaughter of a rabbi. We kinda became less religious over the ensuing generations. At this point we celebrate two holidays a year, more out of tradition than anything. I guess you could say I’m Jew-“ish”.”

Saaya chuckled. “Well, if this is what you celebrate instead of Christmas, and it brings you joy…”

“Actually we celebrate Chanukah  _ and  _ Christmas,” said Tae. “Having a secular family means you just kinda roll with the holiday season, I guess.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Saaya looked at the coffee table - a nine-spoked silver candelabra stood in the middle, emblazoned with a six-pointed star. “Oh, this is lovely!”

“That’s the menorah,” said Tae. “It’s the fifth night, so we’ll light five candles plus the shamash.”

“Shamash?”

“It’s the one in the middle. You use it to light all the others.” Tae reached over and grabbed six blue-white candles out of a box on the table, placing one in five of the menorah’s branches and then one in the middle. “Would you like to do the honors?”

“I’ll just watch, haha,” said Saaya.

Tae pulled out a box of matches, striking a flame to light the shamash. She picked the candle up and used it to light the others. “Repeat after me.  _ Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam _ .”

“ _ Baruk ata Adonei Eloheinu Melehelem _ ,” Saaya attempted to repeat. “Sorry, I kinda butchered that.”

“That’s alright.” Tae finished lighting the candles, placing the shamash back in its place. The five (technically six) candle flames stood tall, a burning orange-white in the evening. “I’m pretty sure it’s only like half the prayer anyway.”

“What does it mean, anyway?”

Tae shrugged. “Something about dogs? My parents just kinda had us say it every time we lit the candles.”

Saaya could hear Arisa in her head shouting  _ don’t you mean God, not dogs?! _ but just laughed at Tae’s little joke. “Well, nothing wrong with that, I guess?”

“Mm.” Tae nodded. “I guess familiarity is comfortable in a sense. “

The living room suddenly sounded a lot quieter. Their faces turned towards each other were half-silhouetted, cast in bright light and dark shadow by the flare of the menorah’s fire.Tae’s green eyes were extra enchanting with a flicker in her pupils.

“You know, this menorah’s lighting is kinda romantic,” said Saaya, scooting closer,

Tae smiled, both knowing and oblivious. “I agree. I think the romantic tension inherent to Chanukah scenarios is severely underexplored. All romance movies are about Christmas… why aren’t there any about reading the Talmud with your beloved while cozying up by the fireplace?

Saaya’s fingers snuck over to Tae’s thigh. “Is that what you wanna do? More… Chanukah traditions?”

“Well, reading the Talmud isn’t really a Chanukah thing, actually,” replied Tae without a hint of sultriness. “You see, Chanukah is a celebration of a miraculous happening in the 2nd century BCE, wherein the Greco-Syrian occupier of Judea, King Antioch IV, forced Greek paganism upon the Hebrew populace, who revolted under the leadership of a priest named Mattathias, who then died and was replaced by his son--” Tae suddenly bolted from the couch, sending Saaya’s hand flying. “Judah Maccabunny!”

“Macabunny?” asked Saaya incredulously. “His name was Judah Macabunny?”

“Oh, no, his name was Judah Macabee.” Tae shook her head. “Judah Macabunny is one of my rabbits. He always celebrates Chanukah with me, but I haven’t gotten him out of his cage yet. Gimme a sec.” Without waiting for a response, Tae dashed away towards her room.

Saaya stared, momentarily flabbergasted, until Tae returned with a tan rabbit in one hand and a box of matzo in the other. Tae set the bunny on the couch between them, pulling out a sheet of matzo and breaking off a piece to feed her little lagomorphic friend before sticking a tiny yarmulke on his head. “There we go.  _ Now  _ it’s Chanukah.”

Saaya made eye contact with the rabbit - like all other small creatures it seemed brimming with animosity at the sight of her. “Um, Otae? Are you sure your rabbit should be out here? It doesn’t seem sanitary…”

“It’s not a proper Chanukah without Judah Macabunny,” Tae replied. “Then again, we also haven’t put on  _ Fiddler on the Roof _ , so maybe we’re still not at peak Chanukah vibes yet.”

“Wh-What else is there to do on Chanukah?” asked Saaya, trying to avoid staring into the beady, judging eyes of Judah Macabunny.

“Oh, we could play with dreidels.” Tae reached under the coffee table and pulled out two small bowl - one filled with chocolates, the other with four-sided wooden tops of various colors and sizes. “That can be fun.”

“What are they?” asked Saaya, picking one of the smaller tops up and turning it over in her hand.

“Ah, good eye. The bigger ones kinda suck to spin.” Tae pet Judah Macabunny as she spoke. “Basically, we each start with some chocolate, but put some of it in a pot, and we take turns spinning our dreidels. Depending on what side the dreidel falls on, we either take chocolate from the pot, add some in, or do nothing. It’s not complicated - we can learn while playing.” 

Tae took ten pieces of chocolate out of the bowl and handed them to Saaya. “Usually we play with chocolate coins but this year we could only get Hershey’s Kisses… hope that’s ok.”

“Doesn’t make a difference to me.” Saaya smiled as Tae put a handful of Kisses on the table before taking ten for herself along with a dreidel. “You start, since I don’t really know how it works…”

“It’s really simple.” With a flick of the rist, Tae spun her dreidel, which whirred for a good five seconds before sputtering out on its side, falling on the Hebrew letter  ה . “Hei. So I get half the pot.”

“Woah, half?”

Tae nodded as she procured the morsels. “Generally it’s a bit better when you’ve got more people to put more stuff in the pot. But eh. Go ahead.”

Saaya spun her own dreidel. It fell off the table and she bent over to squint at the result -  ש.  “It’s the one that looks like a W?”

“Shin. Bad luck. You put one chocolate back in the pot.”

Saaya did so, somehow wondering if the ill will of Judah Macabunny had cursed her fortune.

Tae spun again, this time landing on  נ.  “Nun. Nothing happens. Your turn.”

Saaya took her turn, her dreidel this time spinning on the table ‘til it landed on the only result that hadn’t appeared yet:  ג.

“Ooh, Gimel!” Tae applauded. “You get every last Kiss in the pot.”

“Oh, nice!” Saaya reached over to take all the chocolates on the table, reclining in victory…

When she felt a pair of lips press into her own. 

Tae had closed the distance between them in a blink, Judah Macabunny scurrying up onto her lap as she leaned over. Saaya, initially surprised, leaned in after realizing what was going on, soaking in every flavor on Tae’s tongue by the now dull red candlelight. 

After a few moments, Tae pulled back. “Every kiss you can get, right?”

Saaya giggled. “I don’t know the tradition, but is kissing another girl on Chanukah very kosher?”

Tae shrugged. “Kosher is dietary law. It has nothing to do with girls kissing.”

“In that case…” Saaya pressed her nose right against Tae’s. “Were there any more kisses in that pot?”

Tae smiled. “You’re asking a lot there, Ms. Yamabuki…”

“This is the one place I can stand to be selfish, you know.”

“Well then, I hope you roll Gimel for the rest of the night.”

No more words. Just the feeling of Tae’s lanky arms hugging her abdomen, the scent of her aloe shampoo, the fuzziness of Judah Macabee curling up snuggly between them without biting Saaya…

That was the true miracle of Chanukah.

**Author's Note:**

> If God didn't put me on Earth to write about lesbians kissing on Chanukah what did He put me on Earth for


End file.
